According to The Handbook of Texas, the area where the town is now located was once granted to the county in 1892 by the 77 Ranch, owned by S.B. Wilson and Wilson Furneaux. The town developed in 1917–1918 with a hotel and service from the Santa Fe railroad, which had built a branch line from Lubbock, Texas, to Texico, New Mexico, in 1913. The land company manager and first postmaster, P.E. Boesen, suggested the town's name in 1918. A gin was built in 1922 and a bank established a year later. The town was incorporated in 1925, when the population was 600, up from a population of only 15 in 1920. The first of several grain elevators was also erected in 1925 and the Sudan News began publication. The population was 1,014 in 1930, 1,336 in 1950, 976 in 1970, and 1,091 in 1980. In 1990, it was 983. The population reached 1,039 in 2000.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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